Crazy Facts About The Mindset Of College Freshmen Today

If you've never seen an actual airline ticket (no, that's not the
same as a boarding pass), never mailed a first-class letter for
less than 30 cents and never known Los Angeles to have a pro
football team, then you might be an incoming college freshman.

So says the latest Beloit College Mindset List, which attempts to
summarize what members of the Class of 2016 know—and what they
don't—by referencing the cultural touchstones that have come
and/or gone in their lifetime.

The list, released Tuesday, is a collection of references to pop
culture (Justin Bieber and Dakota Fanning are their age),
politics (a woman has run the U.S. State Department for much of
their lives) and technology (their world has always existed in
cyberspace).

To members of the Class of 2016, many of whom were born in 1994,
"The Graduate" protagonist Benjamin Braddock could be their
grandfather.

Other points on the list show not just the passage of time, but
also the evolution of behavior. This year's college freshman
would likely think it strange for White House security to greet a
group of gay elected officials by wearing rubber gloves, as
happened during President Bill Clinton's first term. (A Clinton
spokesman later apologized.)

Beloit College English and humanities professor Tom McBride and
former college Public Affairs Director Ron Nief have compiled the
list annually since 1998. As for larger trends among this year's
college freshmen, McBride said one is clear.

"They've come into their teenage years at a time when there are
real doubts about America's future, about whether America will
continue to be a No. 1 power, about crushing debt, about recovery
from the economic recession," McBride said in an interview.

"This is a generation for whom D-E-B-T is going to be a
four-letter word. They're aware it was excess debt that caused
the recession. They've seen older siblings graduate college and
come back home without any prospects for a job. They've heard the
word 'underwater' and they know it isn't referring to a swimming
pool."